A Mother's Love
by adama-roslinlove
Summary: As Sharon's marriage is deteriorating, she finds a way to show herself that her children will always need their mother's love.


**This is an idea that I got from thinking of what Sharon's family was like when they were all younger. I hope you enjoy it! Remember, I don't own anything. **

The noise of a key being drunkenly inserted into the lock of the front door awakens Sharon. She can sleep through thunder and lightning, but when a noise can threaten her children's safety, she awakens immediately. She slips on her glasses and then looks at the clock on her nightstand and groans. _Why did Jack pick 2am to come hom_e? She quickly climbs out of bed and wraps herself in a sweater. She hurriedly walks through the condo, trying to beat Jack to opening the door. She reaches the door just as the key fits into the lock and the door is opened.

"Oh, hi Sharon," Jack says, obviously drunk, "Why are you up so late?" His words are slurred and his breath smells heavily of alcohol. He leans in clumsily to kiss Sharon and she pushes him away, making him waver on his feet even more.

"Jack, it is 2am. You smell like booze and you are soaked," Sharon whispers, trying to not wake their kids even though her anger is building. There is a pool of water growing on the floor underneath Jack's feet and his clothes are soaked through with rain water. She doesn't feel bad for him a bit.

Earlier that night, a thunder storm came rolling through Los Angeles and had settled itself overhead. Since then, heavy rain has been steadily beating down outside and loud thunder can be heard very close to their home.

"Well, it is raining out there pretty hard, Shar, of course I'm soaked. Now, will you let me in so I can change and then go to bed? I'm feeling pretty shitty, Sharon."

"No, I will not let you in," Sharon fiercely whispers. "You are drunk off your ass and I will not allow our children to see that. They deserve a better father than that. You are going to have to stay somewhere else for the night and do not come back home until you are sober." She crosses her arms across her chest and stares pointedly at her husband.

"Sharon, I think you are being a bit unreasonable. It's pouring out there; I can't go back out there. I don't even have to stay in our room, I can sleep on the couch if that makes you happy." He tries to lay his hand on Sharon's shoulder but she backs away.

"No, Jack. I have protected our children from your drunkenness thus far; I will not allow them to see you like this now. Get out of our home right now and go stay somewhere else for the night."

Without any hesitance or shame, Jack says, "Fine, Sharon, have it your way. Just know, when our children get older, they're not going to want to stay with their overprotective mother." He turns around and walks out of their home.

Sharon locks the door behind Jack and as she hears a loud clap of thunder she sighs and leans heavily against the door. She tries to reign in her emotions, anger mixed with sadness. Sadness for her children and her failed marriage and anger at her husband. _How did it get to this point? _She tries to shake off Jack's comment about her children leaving her as him being drunk and nothing more, but her emotions are running too high. She feels the prickle of tears building in her eyes and a couple of them make their way down her cheeks. She takes a shaky breath and then she slowly moves back to her bedroom. She listens quietly outside of her children's doors but doesn't hear a sound. She's happy that her and Jack's fighting hadn't woken them. Ricky had been easy to put to bed but Emily had been hard because she was scared of the thunder. Even though Ricky was younger, he could sleep through anything. It had taken several bedtime stories snuggled up against her mother to finally get Emily to sleep. Sharon moves away from her children's doors and walks back into her bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her. As she makes her way over to the bed, she takes off her sweater and lays it on the dresser. She climbs back into bed and slides her glasses off, placing them on the nightstand. Curling in on herself, she cries silently for her failed marriage and for her children who will grow up without a good father. The sound of rain pounding against the walls and the thunder mix perfectly with her emotions right now. She muffles her tears in her pillow, occasionally letting small gasps escape into the rain filled silence. She slowly cries herself to sleep, letting her emotions get the better of her.

She doesn't know how long she has been asleep, but she wakes when she hears someone breathing right beside her. She slowly opens her eyes and stares into the green eyes of her five year old daughter who is standing cautiously on the side of her bed, a look of fear on her face. "What's wrong, Em?" she asks in a drowsy voice and then clears her throat, making Emily jump.

"Mommy, I'm scared," she says in a small, trembling voice.

Sharon can see her bottom lip quivering and tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She slowly sits up in her bed and turns on the lamp that is on the nightstand. "Of what, honey?"

"The thunder and the lightning. It's scaring me."

Sharon understands her daughter's fear, especially tonight. The lightning is very close and bright and the thunder is extremely loud and is vibrating their house. She looks closely into her daughter's eyes and sees the genuine fear. She lets out a small sigh and softly says, "Why don't you walk around to the other side of the bed and climb in? You can sleep with me tonight."

As Emily walks around to the other side of the bed, she quietly asks, "Where's daddy?"

Sharon hesitates as Emily climbs into the bed, emotion threatening to take over once again. She hates lying to her children even though she is protecting them and she hates knowing that they should have a better father. "He had to stay late at the office. By the time that he was done with all of his work he decided that he didn't want to drive home in the storm, so he just stayed there for the night."

"Oh," Emily says softly in reply. She lies down on her dad's side of the bed and Sharon turns the lamp off. A loud clap of thunder follows a bright crack of lightning, causing Emily to jump.

Sharon lies back down and pulls the blankets up. She turns to look at her daughter and says gently, "Come here, Em."

Emily scoots closer to her mom and tucks her head underneath her mom's chin. Sharon wraps her arms around her daughter and she can feel her trembling. Emily curls herself in on her mom and rests her head against her mom's heart. Emotions threaten to overwhelm Sharon and she is taken back to her fight with Jack a little while earlier in the evening. She suddenly realizes that her husband was truly wrong; her children will always need her. And even though they may get annoyed with her being overprotective sometimes, they won't hate her.

As another bolt of lightning strikes and thunder threatens the peace, Sharon can feel Emily start to shake again. She pulls her in tighter and softly begins to hum a lullaby, gently rocking her daughter in her arms. After a while, she can feel Emily begin to relax, safe in her mother's arms. Sharon presses a soft kiss against her daughter's forehead and drifts to sleep, thinking of a mother's love for her children.

**Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated. **


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